Title: The Egg and I
Author: Betty MacDonald
Genre:
Non-Fiction, Autobiography
About the book…
The first of several
autobiographical works, The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald, also known
for her Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, was
first published in 1945. In it she focuses on her time spent with her first
husband on their chicken farm in Washington and all the troubles that they
experienced.
This book was made into a movie by the same name staring
Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray in 1946.
What I think…
This is one of those books that definitely falls in the category
of being more amusing than your average non-fiction.
MacDonald takes her
farm experiences and turns them into a laugh out loud narrative that still
manages to capture all the difficulties and hard work that actually go into
farming of any sort. Chapters such as “That Infernal Machine, the Pressure
Cooker” (all about canning and its tyranny) capture bits and pieces of farm
life that even as a modern audience are often thought about in much more
idealistic ways.
Her humor can be sharp and seemingly mean-spirited at
times, which at a few parts is a little off putting. She also tend to be
brutally honest at points, for example chapter 9 entitled “I Learn to Hate Even
Baby Chicks,” where she goes on to explain a great many actual problems that
you experience when raising baby chicks.
One other thing to point out that
has been criticized over time is her description of Native Americans, which I
do have to say can be cringe worthy to read from the perspective of a modern
reader.
As I haven’t seen the entire movie (just bits and pieces), I can’t
say how it compares, but I do know that based on the book I would like to
eventually see it.
To sum it all up… A remarkably funny autobiography
from a woman who braved chicken farming in the 1920’s and lived to tell about
it. ♥
